Freyja Will Deliver the Torch.

Photo copyrighted.

Photo copyrighted.

It was an honor to carry the torch to the games. Freyja was proud to be selected. The first seed heads had been found in Mongolia by an itinerant herder called Yul. They had appeared after a meteorite storm, Yul harvested them for fuel. When one of his goats devoured some dried seeds it became young again. So the herder put some seeds in his wife’s meal, she died.

The Yul foundation now ran the worldwide games. If you won you got the golden seed of youth, if you came last, you got the red seed of death.

When I saw the prompt the seed head reminded me of an Olympic torch; and so a story was born. My thanks are due to Marie Gail Stratford who’s supplied the photograph for this week’s prompt.

Michael Humphris.

This Post Has 42 Comments

  1. Iain Kelly

    Sounds like something akin to The Hunger Games books, a real battle for life or death.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Iain, definately a battle for longer life’s, but fail and one dies!

  2. neilmacdon

    That’s wonderfully inventive, Michael

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Neil, the prompt photo challenged me, so I went off-piste.

  3. Moon

    Great, unique take on the prompt, Michael.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Moon, the photo challenged me to go off-piste.

  4. rochellewisoff

    Dear Michael,

    Hopefully no one got the seed confused. Imaginative story.



    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Rochelle, the photo challenged me, so I had to ski off-piste.

  5. Lynn Love

    As others have said, very imaginative, dystopian tale. Well done Michael

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Lynn, as I was challenged by the prompt photo, I decided to go ski-ing Off-piste.

      1. Lynn Love

        And why not? Who knows where ideas will take us?

  6. Björn Rudberg (brudberg)

    I feel this started out like a Russian roulette… good that they found the difference in color at least.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Bjorn, it is good that there is a colour difference, or it would indeed be like playing Russian roulette. I forgot to state that Mr Yul is colour blind.

  7. granonine

    Wow–what an imaginative story!

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you granonine,

  8. Dale

    Original take on the prompt, Michael! I think I shall just watch the games…

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Dale. It might be the safest thing to do.

  9. Alicia Jamtaas

    Oh, from now until forever I’ll pay attention to the color of the seeds. Great take on the prompt.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Yul can only hope that the seeds will hold true to their colours.

  10. Rowena

    I’ll watch out for you, Michael and I can’t see us having lunch any time soon, especially anything with seeds in it.Great take. Well done.
    Best wishes,

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Rowena. Yul is hoping the seeds will keep coming true to colour.

  11. Norma

    Liked your imaginative take on the prompt, Michael. 🙂

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Norma,

  12. Joy Pixley

    Creative legend, I really enjoyed it!

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Joy,

    2. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Joy, I did wonder if the plant’s came to earth from Eneana?

      1. Joy Pixley

        Ooh, interesting idea — maybe they did!

  13. yarnspinnerr

    A beautifully crafted and wonderfully imaginative write.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you kind sir, I really appreciated your feedback, thank you.

  14. anuragbakhshi

    That was wonderfully imaginative Michael.

    1. Michael Humphris

      I do sometimes wonder where the stories arrive from, I was particularly surprised by this story, thank you for your kind comments

  15. Dawn M. Miller

    Wonderful extremes. You’ve given us the most coveted and the most dreaded in 100 words!

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Dawn, it seems to me that is the way of many sports, you either win or completely loose out

  16. Fatima Fakier

    Reminds me of how sometimes life’s decisions can feel like life and death matters. In this case it really is!

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Fatima, it sadden me that many so called sports rarely rewards those who just give their best. For taking part is as important as winning.

  17. Sascha Darlington

    Innovative take! Well done.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Sascha,

  18. Sarah Ann

    The red seed of death will propel everyone to work hard to succeed. It’s a harsh end for the one who has to come last though. This is so good, packing in the history behind the games and their current incarnation.

    1. Michael Humphris

      Thank you Sarah, In my original take on this story, some individuals wanted to gain the red seed!

  19. mandibelle16

    Neat take on the Olympics. Yule must have been unaware of his wife’s eating the red seed. That what I understood? There wasn’t malevolence behind it. But I feel bad for those in these workd games, it has a bit of a ‘Hunger Games’ fell to it.

    1. Michael Humphris

      You are right Mandibelle, Yul did not at first realise the danger of the red seeds.

      1. mandibelle16

        Too bad, eh?

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